Baritone? yes, no maybe???

D-Man

Hi GF nation!!!!!! it's been ages since the last time I really interacted with the wonders of GuitarForum... It feels like i've missed out on a world of knowledge. ALAS, I am back and ready to pick the brains of those that have been well endowed with them.

Right, to business: My current setup consists of an Ibanez SA120EX ran straight through my recently acquired Marshall MG100FX. I would comment on my ever elusive tone, but I'd rather leave that for another thread. I'm happily jamming again and my recent musical tendencies have guided me comfortably and energetically into the pools of Stone Sour, Slipknot and Breaking Benjamin... I still remain a fan of ALL music, but these are the main influences on my guitaring right now. So I've ended up tuning the Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkys down to Drop A#... At first the only thing that sounded good was chugging on the opens but after a forced self-tutorial of trial and error, I quickly setup the intonation and it cooperated like a Vicious yet tame Beast!!!

So it's clear to me that, in order to attain maximum guitar satisfaction, I need to embrace the low tunings. Now I've seen that Ben Burnley and Aaron Fink use baritone guitars. Apart from the finer details of the relationship between scale length, string guage and tension and how they lead to the need for compensation, I understand the basic practicality behind these guitars but there are a couple things I'd like to know:

1) Will it be impossible/idiotic to tune them to a standard tuning (or even close) if you used the right strings??? Would this sound stupid???
2)Would it be easy to get hold of a reasonably priced one in South Africa???
3)Would they require any hard-to-find things like perhaps special length strings or something like that
4)Do you have any useful commentary on Baritone Guiatrs??????

Thanks

AlanRatcliffe

I've been looking at Baritones lately after playing a Lakewood baritone acoustic recently. There's a Mike Mushok Ibby in the classifieds, which is well suited to heavier stuff. The newer PRS Mushok sig is also available (saw one in Marshall Cape the other day). And there is the new Fender Blacktop Tele Baritone (HSS), which has just arrived.

I've never tried it, but I'm guessing that the tension would be too high to tune up to standard pitch, even with light regular strings - the scale length is a fair bit longer than a Strat (usually 27" - 28.5" long).

They require baritone string sets, which are longer, heavier, stiffer and more expensive than normal guitar sets. ATM they are fairly easy to get, but in a few years, when they are less popular, who knows (like the double-ball sets required by my bass)?

To be honest, a lot of guitar amps don't have the power or frequency range to do them justice though (Chad, with his love for extended range guitars would probably be the guy to give you the lowdown on amps).

Bob-Dubery

D-Man wrote: 1) Will it be impossible/idiotic to tune them to a standard tuning (or even close) if you used the right strings??? Would this sound stupid???

Why would you want to do that? All you'd have is a very long scale guitar tuned up to standard pitch and thus with very taut strings. Even if you could play like that, tuning the whole instrument something like 2.5 tones higher is going to involve a lot of retuning and maybe will pull the action up.

A friend of mine had a baritone acoustic made. It sounded pretty good, but he found the extra scale length caused him problems because the left hand has to stretch more, especially in the lower positions - which is where you're going into baritone territory. Obviously it's not an insurmountable problem because there are people who play baritones (and it may be less of a problem on an electric with lighter strings), but it's a consideration.

AlanRatcliffe

X-rated Bob wrote: Obviously it's not an insurmountable problem because there are people who play baritones (and it may be less of a problem on an electric with lighter strings), but it's a consideration.

You're not talking much (third fret is about the same as the first on a normal alto guitar) and you get used to it. A bass is a lot longer still, but lots of people have no problems with those.

The Lakewood acoustic I played on also had a super-wide neck (48mm at 1st, 60mm at 12th) but was still fairly slender (22mm) and surprisingly comfy. Was instantly playing stuff as if I'd always played Baritone - in fact I loved the neck and have been looking for something as big in an electric. Granted I'm at home on larger/longer necks anyway (bass, and my 12-string is the same width), but still, it's not as bad as you'd think...

D-Man

X-rated Bob wrote: Why would you want to do that? All you'd have is a very long scale guitar tuned up to standard pitch and thus with very taut strings. Even if you could play like that, tuning the whole instrument something like 2.5 tones higher is going to involve a lot of retuning and maybe will pull the action up.

At the end of the day it all comes down to cash... Baritones cost more money than I have to my name but the desire is great enough for me to sell my current guitar in order to pay for a new one. That would mean that I only have a baritone. Should I be asked to play songs in standard tuning for the school band, music or other projects, I will either have to transpose till it comes out my ears or re-tune, which is why I asked if it would be plausible...

But at the moment it seems I'll have to wait quite a while before I actually own a baritone ☹

Bob-Dubery

D-Man wrote: That would mean that I only have a baritone. Should I be asked to play songs in standard tuning for the school band, music or other projects, I will either have to transpose till it comes out my ears or re-tune

Or use a capo.